I'm in love

I couldn't love this girl more than I do.  I say that every day, yet I manage to wake up the next day loving her even more.  How is this possible?  

She will be two on Saturday.  I can hardly wait for her little birthday party.  She is so excited about it, and knows there will be balloons, face paint (which she calls stickers), friends, and presents.  She talks about it several times a day, especially getting a sticker on her cheek.  I hope she has the time of her life.  We just found out Finn will be there which will make that day even more special for her.  Oh, how she loves that boy!

Over the past month or so, we've been going to local farms a couple of times a week.  This is her new favorite activity.  She gets to run around, collect and throw rocks, get dirty, see animals and be free.  It is the perfect outing for a toddler, and I am glad to oblige any time she mentions wanting to go.  It's still odd and wonderful to me that there are places like this, just outside of a huge city.  I love it!  We get the best of both worlds.  She thinks both places are fascinating.  

I love how excited she gets about everything these days.  Everything is an adventure, a learning experience, an exploration,  a wonder.  I hope that never fades- her enthusiasm for every little thing in life.  I also love that she remembers what we did at the end of the day.   When Josh gets home from work, he always asks her what she did that day.  Every time without fail, she tells him everything we did including food we ate, errands we ran, activities we did, and fun we had.  I am so impressed by her.  She is a smarty, this one.  We are working on her ABCs right now and it's pretty darn cute.  She knows A-E, G, K, attempts L, M, N, O, and then can always do Q-Z.  She catches on to things so quickly, it makes me wonder if I am teaching her enough.  I am constantly impressed by her ability to learn so quickly.  I hope she has her dad's passion for knowledge.  He studies things constantly, just because he wants to.  I love that man.  He is a really good dad.  Our kids are lucky to have him.

The end is near

35.5 weeks

I am going to be a mother of two, in just 4 short weeks.  It's still strange to me that I am old enough for this stuff.  I have been married for 6 years, own a home, my husband has a masters degree and a real life career, and we (will) have 2 kids.  Since when am I not 19?  It's crazy and I love it.  I feel blessed to be living the life I always dreamed of as a child.

Some days d-day can't come soon enough, others I feel like I need some more time.  I officially waddle, have full on belly cleavage hanging out of the bottom of all of my shirts, pee 5 times a night, can't sit up unassisted, have gained 20 lbs, and have a son in there that moves like a maniac.  All in all everything is going extremely well though!  My energy levels are higher than they have been in a while, I'm much more comfortable than I was at this point in my pregnancy with Lucy, and I am glad to have most things ready for the baby's arrival. 

It's been really fun to make his crib, wash his blankets and clothes, get the car seat, baby swing, and other accessories out and prepped, and sit in his room imagining what it will be like to cuddle him in there.  I've also tried to re-read some of Babywise.  I really hope I can get him sleeping as well as Lucy did, from a young age. Fingers crossed!

The little man doesn't have a name yet.  He probably won't until he is here.  We have a list that we like, all super traditional, normal names.  I can hardly wait to see his little face!  I wonder if he will look like his sister, or like his dad.  I wonder what color eyes and hair he will have.  With the combination of our family's genes, it could be anything really.  I can't wait to hold him, smell him, and experience that indescribable mother/child bond for the second time in my life.

I'm a little nervous about nursing him.  That was by far the most difficult part of having a newborn for me, last time.  I had terrible wounds, bleeding, clogs, and infections, and I'm just worried that is going to happen again.  For the first 6 weeks, every time Lucy would latch on, my eyes would water and my toes would curl.  It was so painful.  I'm so glad I stuck it out though.  I really did love breast feeding her and I saw the benefits of it, first hand.  I nursed Lu for 13 months, she never had formula even one single time, and I plan on doing the same thing with this baby.

It's funny, part of me feels like I have never done this before.  I went to pack my hospital bag the other day, and I had no clue what to put in there.  I felt much more confident about the little things with Lucy.  I think it's because I had been reading a million books for the 9 months before she came, and I had a set plan for everything.  I haven't really had time to think about any of that this time around and I kind of feel like I'm winging it a little bit.  I also think part of it is that Lucy was the most amazing newborn ever- she NEVER cried, slept like a dream from the beginning, ate extremely well, etc.  I never had to deal with any set backs or problems with her and I'm a little nervous things won't go quite as easily this time around, and that I won't know what to do to help him if that's the case.  I know, I'm weird.

I have really been trying to soak up the remainder of my alone time with Lucy.  She is so fun right now and I want to try to take her all in and remember every little detail.  She is so smart, beautiful, funny, and amazing.

Anyway, we are so excited for this little boy to be part of our family!  He will be an added blessing that I know I won't be able to live without.

Here he is in action:

23 Months

My baby will be two, TWO!, years old in 2 1/2 weeks.  How did this happen so quickly?  Here is our precious and spunky Louey at 23 months:

At 23 months, Lucy:

• counts to 10, knows all her colors, can spell her name, is really good at puzzles, knows every animal and the sound they make.  She is currently working on her ABCs.
• sleeps in a big girl bed!  Not a toddler bed, a real live twin bed, in a big girl room.  She has done so well with the transition.  She hasn't had any problems with her new environment, and (shockingly) hasn't tried to get out of bed a single time.  She still naps just as long as before, and sleeps perfectly throughout the night.  Everyone was telling me not to move her into a bed, but it really couldn't have been an easier change.  Now if only potty training was this easy...
• is finally down to one nap a day!  It took her so long to get to this point, and some days I still feel like she needs two, but she really is doing great with her new nap schedule.  It has been nice to be able to be out and about throughout the day.  She takes one 2-3 hour nap in the early afternoon and sleeps 12 hours at night.
• knows how to throw a tantrum and is getting really good at it.  Luckily, they are very short lived, lasting anywhere from 5-30 seconds, and then she's over whatever she was upset about.  The scary thing is, they are happening a few times a day, and over very small and silly things.  Oye.
• is possibly more curious than ever.  She is constantly into everything, making messes, playing with things she isn't supposed to play with, jumping or falling off of furniture, taking things apart to figure out how they work then putting them back together, loves to explore, etc.
• loves anything and everything princess right now, and the color pink.  Who taught her to like pink?  That one certainly wasn't me.  She loves her princess dress ups, her Tangled sippy cups, books, crowns, etc.  My dad just bought her an amazing princess dress and crown in NYC, and I can NOT wait for her to see them.  She is going to be so excited I don't even think she'll know what to do with herself.
• likes movies that are for kids 10 years older than her.  She loves Parent Trap, which she calls 'shopping cart' for some reason, and still loves George of the Jungle, Elf, and her all time favorite, Home Alone.  Up and Tangled are definitely also front runners.
• is really into reading right now, which has been great.  I worked really hard to get her to last through a book for so long.  It paid off, because now she loves to read!  She still has to move about while we read, but she is much better at paying attention.  She is also starting to memorize pages of her favorite books.  Her current favorites are Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Letter to the Zoo, Pat the Bunny, Goodnight Moon, and Baby Bunny.
• her vocabulary is insane!  She constantly speaks in 3-4 word phrases, and even in full sentences on occasion.  She understands EVERYTHING, says things like, 'oh my gosh!', and 'that's shocking', and totally knows when she says something funny. 
• still loves and adores her Finn.  It breaks my heart that they don't get to see each other everyday anymore.  She was so so happy to see him this past week.  He really is her favorite person.  Those two have a special connection that I hope they never lose.  I feel really guilty for taking her away from him.
• has a feeling something is about to change, or at least I think she does.  She wants me to hold her more, rock her, has been more affectionate with me, and always wants me around.  She invites me to come sit with her, wherever she is, so I can either watch her play or play with her.  She wants me to read to her, sing to her, etc, which for her has been been a big change in behavior.   I used to try to do those things with her and for the most part, she was so busy she didn't seem to care if I was around or not.  It has been a very welcomed change, but one I'm afraid we will struggle with when my attention has to be divided, in just a few short weeks.  I am trying to enjoy every second that she and I have alone, before the baby is here.
• still is the busiest, craziest child alive.  In contrast to what I said above, she really still never stops moving.  It is incredible.  I wish people could see her in action because I don't think anyone besides our families and close friends really understands the amount of energy this child has to release in a day.  I come from a family of overly energetic kids, and she blows us all out of the water!  Although exhausting, it is admirable, and I think she will do great things with all of her fire, will, and zest for life.
• is still so teeny tiny.  She weighs 22 lbs, but is fairly tall.  I think I was 19 lbs and short at her age, so she will most certainly be taller than me, which I think is fantastic.  
• loves dried fruit- prunes, raisins, cranberries, apricots, etc. and nuts, especially pine, walnuts, and pistachios to snack on.  She also loves curry in all forms, butternut squash soup, and hummus.
• still has never tasted candy, a cookie, brownie, etc.  The only sugar she has had was on her first birthday and she wasn't too into it.  We are trying to decide what to give her on her second birthday.  
• loves to whisper lately.  It's so cute, and a very nice change from her usual extremely loud volume.
• still loves Neil Diamond.  I love that about her.  She also loves the song 'Santa Claus is coming to town'.  She requests that I sing to her all day long- everything from Neil and 'Itsy Bitsy Spider', to the George of the Jungle theme song and 'You are my Sunshine'.  
• loves farms, swimming, swinging at the park, blowing bubbles, coloring on our fence with chalk, throwing rocks and bark, playing with sticks, hugging light poles (so weird), bouncing balls, and 'running fast!' as she says when she is running speedily away from me in a public place.
• is getting really good at cleaning up her toys, before pulling new ones out.  She actually reminded me to do this the other day which made me proud.  She is picking our habits up and it's awesome.
• loves to jump on and off of furniture.  She is pretty fearless.  She climbs on everything she can, and sometimes hurts herself in the process, but doesn't really seem to care enough to not do it again.  She likes adventure, that's for sure.
• has the longest hair!  It is down between her should blades.  I am contemplating cutting a couple of inches off, just to add some fullness, but Josh loves it long.  It is straight as a stick, slippery and soft.  She requests certain hair styles some days, and loves when I braid it for her.  Most days it is still in pigtails.  I love pigtails on little girls, and it stays the neatest when we style it that way.  She looks homeless by the end of the day if we leave it down.  She also has the cutest little face I've ever seen.  She really is so beautiful, Josh and I can't quite get over it.

This girl is pretty amazing.  She is firey and bold, sweet and funny.  We really do adore everything about her.  She is cleaver and so so smart.  We so love watching her explore the world around her.  She is so curious and happy to be wherever she is.  She tries to be so helpful with cleaning up spills, folding (or unfolding) laundry, putting her little dishes away, etc.  She is a true joy to be around.  No one makes me happier or more exhausted than my Lucy.  I love her more than life itself and I am so proud to be her mama.